Individual contributions to major party presidential candidates
exploded from $184 million for the 2000 primaries to $316 million in
2004. Of this $132 million increase, $74 million (or 55%) came in
amounts of $1,001 or more. (The new campaign finance law raised the
amount an individual can give to a federal candidate from $1,000 to
$2000). Another $14 million of the increase came from the growing
number of straight $1,000 donors – a total of $88 million in new large
donor money in 2004 (See Table 1).

The rush of large donations was partly counterbalanced by a $40 million
flood of small, under $200 contributions -- a 103% increase over 2000.
As a result, the proportion of large donations in candidate totals
increased modestly from 59% of all contributions in 2000 to 62% in
2004, while the proportion of small donations rose from 21% to 25%.

Democratic candidates received $51 million in small donations
compared to just $9 million in 2000. However, one candidate, Howard
Dean, accounted for nearly three-quarters ($30 million) of the
increase. The presumptive Democratic nominee, John Kerry, got less than
$6 million (18%) of his individual contributions from under $200
donors, although his percentage was higher (25%) in February as his
candidacy took off with the public. Dean’s impact on Democratic
fundraising is indicated by the italicized lines in Table 1
which show Democratic totals not counting the Vermont Governor.
Excluding Dean, the Democrats would have raised 63% rather than 49% of
their funds from large donors, and 19% rather than 32% from small
givers. These figures are only slightly different from the Democrats’
65% large donor/15% small donor shares in 2000.

On the Republican side, George W. Bush has raised $27 million from
small donations, five times what he collected in 2000. Although his
proportion of large donations (75%) is slightly higher than four years
ago, his small donations have leaped from 7% to 17% of the pie. In
February he raised 35% of his contributions in amounts under $200. Table 1
however shows that as the sole Republican candidate, Bush has not quite
raised as much from small givers as the combined Republican field did
in 2000.

Public Matching Funds Decline

With two leading Democratic candidates and President Bush opting
out of the public financing system, public matching funds have become
less important. Total matching funds declined from $39 million to $23
million since 2000 (See Table 2).
Moreover, as a proportion of total receipts, the public match fell
dramatically from 15% in 2000 to 6% in 2004. In 2004, two of five
candidates participating in the public system received matching funds
amounting to over 25% of their receipts; in 2000, five of the six
candidates in the system exceeded that mark. The decline of matching
funds stems from two factors:
· the decisions of Howard Dean, John Kerry and George W. Bush to opt out of the public financing system, and
· the maintenance of the public match at up to $250 of a
contribution even as the contribution limit has doubled from $1,000 to
$2,000.

The comprehensive report of CFI’s blue ribbon Task Force on
Presidential Nomination Financing, released in September 2003, can be
found at www.cfinst.org. It details presidential fundraising and
spending from 1980-2000 as well as analyzing the public funding
system’s problems and making recommendations for improvements.

The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit
institute affiliated with the George Washington University that
conducts objective research and education, empanels task forces and
makes recommendations for policy change in the field of campaign
finance. Conclusions of CFI staff and task forces are not necessarily
those of its Trustees. For further information, visit the CFI web site
at www.CFInst.org.